Vaio Nostalgia: A shadow of its past. *tear*

Here I am, enjoying some alone time sitting on a park bench with the wind peacefully blowing and the sun gradually setting, having a think over some things like you do when you're enjoying alone time. I think about school and my science project on biological warfare, I think about life in general, more importantly, with my Vaio Z blinking it's amber power light next to me, I have a think about Vaio's. 

What do I come up with? I see a dying brand.

I remember a time when the Vaio name meant premium class computers, innovative, versatile and powerful. 

I used to respect Vaio as a brand synonymous with high-end computers, which were able to be tough as nails, and as powerful as god, yet achieve this in such grace and style. The only Vaio that embodies this description today is the new S series, and the Z depending on whether the computer has been discontinued in your country or not. 

Don't get me wrong I'm still a fan of Vaio's, being a Sony fan, however I am disappointed at best with the way the Vaio brand has ended up the way it is today. Many factors have contributed to the way I now view the Vaio brand, and the way consumers see the Vaio brand and the way Sony has used the Vaio brand. Long gone are the TT, TZ, TX and SZ series Vaio's which were created in a period, which I believe was the epitome of the Vaio brand, the TT, TZ and TX were simply marvelous computers, and dare I say, compared to similar notebooks today, are still comparable if not better.

Some people get nostalgic over there childhood, others get nostalgic over past events, I get nostalgic over the old Vaio spirit. The old Vaio spirit was one of creation, innovation and non-conformism. Now, I don't see a spirit at all in the Vaio brand, I simply see a brand falling into the same old corporate trap, the deathly spiral of money and greed.

Basically, more than anything, the Vaio lost its spirit.

I've always viewed the most successful consumer electronics companies as the ones that are run through the desire to create and inspire, rather than simply to make money. Henry Ford famously said, 'a business that makes nothing but money is a poor business.' This quote is written in the 'About Me' section of my blog, because it is simply so instrumental to a companies success, and so true, hence why it's my favourite quote. The old Vaio that I used to love, embodied this phrase like no other, the UX Vaio, was creative, innovative, but so niche it was almost useless. But the fact that it was useless and didn't sell that well, doesn't matter as such, since it alluded the Vaio spirit of non conformism, back in a time when Sony weren't afraid to go out on a limb and create something just completely different, and insanely creative. It said a lot about the Vaio brand.

Old favourites like the TT, TX, TZ and SZ are the yardsticks of the Vaio I once loved - premium, expensive and uncompromising. All, have been replaced by inferior and more generic models.

Now, I grimace as I write this, the E series, perhaps it’s just a personal hatred, but the E series represents the lowest of the low for the current Vaio line-up. Bland, fat, and poor battery life, the E series completely defies the legacy of the vastly acclaimed ‘T’ (TT, TZ and TX) models. Don’t get me wrong, they are perfectly adequate computers, however apart from being blindingly colourful, they don’t offer anything of value to live up to the ‘Vaio premium’, or the ‘Sony tax’ as others call it. It is appropriate to argue that the E series is better value than the X series or the P series which are both, in a pure performance for price ratio - inferior computers. But both the P series and X series are unique one-of-a-kind machines, and are incomparable with computers from competing vendors, the E series on the other hand, is hell deep in the sea of sameness.

Perhaps it was just natural evolution to have the Vaio degrade in such a way, maybe Sony themselves haven’t even noticed what has happened. But I think this sudden and unbidden alteration winds us back to the usual suspect: targeting a larger market. This general mentality is frowned upon in many industries, in the music industry it’s called ‘selling out’. In consumer electronics it doesn’t have a specific name, but it’s frowned upon nevertheless. Microsoft did it with the Kinect, and is Sony doing it with the Vaio? I think so. The Vaio brand as we knew it previously provided high-end and expensive computers that catered for the people who wanted the lot with absolutely no compromises. This in itself created a brand image of premium, high-class quality computers - when we thought of Vaio, we thought of a man in a slick tux chilling in a boardroom, or an elegant woman gracefully clasping a Vaio in her hands. Now our thoughts range from a young teen with a colourful Vaio, to a businessman with a jet black Vaio to your classy and fashionable lady with a sleek gold Vaio. In other words, a case of brand dilution.

I'm not saying that Vaio's should only be bought by snobby rich people, but having a certain image to which the Vaio is associated immediately gives it value. The Vaio of old meant premium, so if someone found a Vaio of equal spec and price to a competing vendor, Vaio would be the logical choice simply because of the brand. My basic point is, a strong brand, helps boost sales too. In trying to cater for a larger market, Sony have damaged it.

We look at Vaio now, and yeah maybe they are making more money than before, and in a purely business sense, more 'successful'. I cannot help but reiterate Henry Ford's philosophy once again, 'A business that makes nothing but money is a poor business'. If Sony are here simply to make money, then why do they try? Why do they continue to create amazing products like the Playstation, why do they bother with 3D when it's not making them that much money? In consumer electronics, you can't survive with the philosophy of just making money. I hope Sony are here because they want to create, to innovate and to touch the hearts of consumers and make lives better.

How does it feel to be no different from your competitors? Right now the Vaio brand doesn't hold much against its competition, but it used to. There is nothing more shameful and degrading than to be drowning ass deep in the sea of sameness. The Vaio still has enough brand equity to make a comeback. The simple fact is, Sony has shown in the past with older Vaio's, that Sony definitely can be better than the competition.

So why waste their time being like everyone else?